The Dream Resource Center (DRC) launched Undocumented Stories, an exhibit curated by UCLA students, DRC staff, and SolArt on January 24, 2017. Undocumented Stories utilizes storytelling to uplift the lived experiences of the undocumented immigrant community and highlight how they have built a movement to change policies impacting higher education, access to healthcare, and deportation proceedings. Undocumented Stories also include stories of unaccompanied minors to help contextualize this humanitarian crisis. Undocumented Stories is a multimedia exhibit that seeks to empower immigrant communities to reconstruct narratives, shape public opinion, and influence policy affecting undocumented immigrant community. The exhibit uses photographs, oral histories, posters, art, videos, and artifacts to showcase these powerful stories.

Why the undocumented community?

Today undocumented immigrants and community organizations are working together to provide aid to these youth. Unfortunately, over the years undocumented immigrant communities have been criminalized and stigmatized by social and political institutions that misrepresent the immigrant experience. More than 2 million undocumented immigrants have been deported in the past eight years, more than any other time in U.S. history. Anti-immigrant sentiment permeates many facets of the American discourse, from the 2016 presidential elections to criminal justice and deportation proceedings sweeping the nation. Undocumented immigrants across the U.S. have challenged these conditions, and have created support networks to advocate for their rights. This exhibit celebrates the undocumented immigrant experience.

Undocumented Stories will humanize the undocumented immigrant experience and incite critical conversations about the future of the U.S. immigration law and policy in this country. The exhibit will include photographs, oral histories, posters, art, and videos that help represent these powerful experiences. The exhibit will highlight the stories of undocumented immigrants who have built a movement to change policies impacting deportations, higher education, and unaccompanied minors. Additionally, in an effort to contextualize the new wave of immigrant youth, the exhibit will pay homage to the current “humanitarian crisis” of unaccompanied minors migrating from Central America.